Barmanou
| Grouping | Cryptid |
|---|---|
| Sub grouping | Hominid |
| Similar creatures | Bigfoot, Skunk Ape, Yeren, Yowie, Mande Barung, Orang Pendek, Almas, Yeti |
| Other name(s) | Barmanu, Baddmanus, Big Hairy One (Translation) |
| Country | Afghanistan, Pakistan |
| Region |
Northeast Afghanistan, Chitral, Gilgit and Northern Areas of Pakistan |
| Habitat | Mountains |
The Barmanou (or Barmanu or Baddmanus[1]), a bipedal humanoid primate cryptid, allegedly inhabits the mountainous region of western Pakistan. Shepherds living in the mountains have reported sightings.
The Barmanou is the Pakistani equivalent of the Bigfoot. The term Barmanou is used in several Pakistani languages including Khowar, Shina, Hindko and Kashmiri. In addition to the name Barmanou there are other local names as well.
The proposed range of the Barmanou covers the Chitral and Karakoram Ranges, between the Pamirs and the Himalaya. This places the Barmanou between the ranges of two more-famous cryptids, the Almas of Central Asia and the Yeti of the Himalayas.
The Barmanou allegedly possesses both human and apelike characteristics and has a reputation for abducting women and attempting to mate with them. It is also reported to wear animal skins upon its back and head. The Barmanou appears in the folklore of the Northern Regions of Pakistan and depending on where the stories come from it tends to be either described as an ape or a wild man.
The first search in Pakistan for Bipedal Humanoid man was carried out by a Spanish zoologist living in France, Jordi Magraner, from 1987 to 1990. He wrote a paper, Les Hominidés reliques d'Asie Centrale,[2] on the Pakistani cryptid – the wild man. An image of him and of one of his drawings can be found online at http://cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/afghan-barmanu/.
He later researched the Barmanou extensively in the 1990s. He was murdered in Afghanistan in 2002. Loren Coleman wrote that he "collected more than fifty firsthand sighting accounts, and all eyewitnesses recognized the reconstruction of Heuvelman's homo pongoides ["apelike man"--i.e., a living Neanderthal.[3]]. They picked out homo pongoides as their match to Barmanu from Magraner's ID kit of drawings of apes, fossil men, aboriginals, monkeys, and the Minnesota Iceman."[4]
In May 1992, during a search in Shishi Kuh valley, Chitral, Dr. Anne Mallasseand reported that once during a late evening she heard unusual guttural sounds which only a primitive voice-box could have produced by. No further progress could be made. In addition to this, Dr. Mallasseand was not able to record the sound.
References
- ↑ Hazara Gazetteer 1883-84, Lahore, 1884, Language' section, p.117
- ↑ Magraner, Jordi (1992). Notes sur les hominidés reliques d'Asie centrale: district de Chitral, NWFP, Pakistan (in French). J. Magraner. Retrieved 2014-03-08.
- ↑ Coleman 2003, 117
- ↑ Coleman 2003, 118
- Debenat, Jean-Paul; Paul H LeBlond; Christopher L Murphy (2009). Sasquatch/Bigfoot and the mystery of the Wild Man. Hancock House. pp. 375–77. ISBN 978-0-88839-685-3.
- Loren Coleman; Jerome Clark (1999). Cryptozoology A to Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature. Fireside / Simon and Schuster. pp. 28–29. ISBN 0-684-85602-6.
- Coleman, Loren (2003). Bigfoot!: The True Story of Apes in America. Paraview Pocket Books. p. 118. ISBN 0-7434-6975-5.
External links
- A New Element in Favor of the Authenticity of Homo pongoîdes
- Jordi Magraner's Oral Statements Concerning Living Unknown Hominids
- The Unknown Explorers
- Barmanou of Pakistan in American Monsters.com
- Pakistanese Barmanu
- Tracking Down the Wild Men
- Video - An evening with Jordi Magraner
- The News (9 Sep 2007) article on the Pakistani Barmanou (Barmanu) "The Bigfoot Legend" and Jordi Magraner
- Unknown explorers